Easter: Motorists worry over Abuja-Lokoja gridlock

Ahead of Sunday, April 4 Easter celebration, travellers and motorists are worried about the grueling hours they would spend in the gridlock at the Gwagwalada stretch of the Abuja-Lokoja road.

Daily Trust had reported that since a section of the road was blocked by a construction firm, Dantata & Sawoe, to fix a one kilometre portion over a month ago, traffic jam has continued to inflict pains on motorists and travellers along the axis.

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Some travellers and motorists have had to spend the night on the road on days the gridlock is intractable.

Worst hit are patients on referral to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada as their health conditions often get worse after spending hours under the scorching sun.

A cross section of motorists who spoke with our reporter in Gwagwalada yesterday, said conveying travellers to the eastern and southern parts of the country at Easter would definitely be an unpleasant experience.

Emma Chukwudi, who said he plied Abuja to Enugu, expressed worry that the one kilometre section of the road had not been completed for over a month, and it would further aggravate the traffic congestion during Easter.

“I am seriously worried that the road has not been completed for over a month now. This may affect us that will be conveying travellers to the east for Easter,’’ he said.

Another motorist, Adejumo Isiayaka, who was conveying passengers from Zuba to Akure, Ondo State, also expressed concern over the delay in completing the road, which he said may cause hardship to people that would be travelling to the East for Easter.

“Honestly, anybody who travels along this axis will know what travellers have been passing through because of the jam in Gwagwalada. If measures are not put in place, the road will block completely because of the number of people that would be travelling to celebrate Easter,’’ he said.

A traveller, Francis Isaac, said he and members of his family would be travelling from Abuja to the East on Thursday, hoping to beat the traffic jam along the axis.

“When I was returning from the East last week after attending a burial, I was held up in Gwagwalada for almost seven hours, with my family,” he recounted.

He appealed to the Federal Ministry of Works to, as a matter of urgency, intensify efforts at completing the road, saying the gridlock has become a nightmare to travellers along the axis.

Reacting, the sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ayuba Wobin Gora, said a substantial number of men and officers of the command would be deployed along the axis to control traffic.

“Aside that, I have also directed the Gwagwalada unit commander of the FRSC to meet with the construction firm to open the second lane in order to ensure free flow of traffic through the Easter period,” he said.